Politics, politicians and children’s issues

By Friday afternoon, several million people in Connecticut knew that former Gov. John Rowland had been indicted, again – see Mark Pazniokas’s story on the scene Friday at the U.S. Courthouse in New Haven.

But few, perhaps, knew that issues affecting Connecticut children dominated much of the important, though more prosaic, work this week at the Capitol. As reported by Jackie Rabe Thomas:

The state’s new locked facility — for troubled girls who break the law – has opened in Middletown, which has done nothing to end the simmering controversy between children’s advocates and the Department of Children and Families over whether the unit is really needed. The story includes a series of pointed questions from legislators about the new Pueblo Unit, and answers from DCF.

Rabe Thomas wrote about the conclusions of a new study reporting that “most of Connecticut’s charter schools are hyper-segregated,” a violation of state law. The study, by the advocacy group Connecticut Voices for Children, said most charters fail to enroll diverse populations based on race and ethnicity, and that more than 90 percent of charter students are minorities.

Legislative Democrats unveiled “Smart Start,” their 10-year plan that would be a big step toward providing universal pre-kindergarten, at a projected cost of $10 million a year for each of the next 10 years.

Buried in another Pazniokas piece, however, about state Republicans’ annual Prescott Bush Dinner, was a wonderful anecdote about children. The keynote speaker was Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida and younger brother of President George W. Bush. After discussing the need for comprehensive immigration reform, Bush told of meeting his future wife while studying in Mexico years ago. And today, he said, two of their three grandchildren are “Iraqi-Canadian-Texas-Mexican-Americans” — “quadro-hyphenated Americans.” It could be a trend.

Filed Under:

More About

WASHINGTON — The school shooting in Parkland, Fla., has opened a debate on whether more states should do what Connecticut was first to do -- pass laws that allow the confiscation of weapons from those who are believed to be a danger to others and themselves.

Frustration over the state's funding of charter schools boiled over Wednesday when the State Board of Education rejected on principle the state budget's allocation of the additional $613,500 to three charter schools so they could enroll an additional 57 students.

Ted Kennedy Jr., whose famous name has made him the subject of speculation for higher office since his election to the state Senate in 2014, issued an 84-word statement Monday ruling out a run in Connecticut's open race for governor or any other statewide office in 2018.